A Front of Flowers
by LiesMiranda
Summary: When Lily opened the door, all she could see was a bunch of flowers and a pair of legs. Which begs the question - what's James Potter doing on her doorstep in the middle of summer?


**A/N **Merry Christmas to the wonderful Zoe! I wrote this in a hurry yesterday, and it's really got nothing to do with Christmas; but it's summery, and for us they go together, so thanks for being such a great friend and I hope you enjoy!

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**A Front of Flowers**

When she opened the door, all she could see was a huge bunch of flowers and a pair of legs; jeans ending in scuffed trainers.

Lily raised an eyebrow, but before she could say anything the flowers spoke. "Flowers for newly appointed head girl; Miss Lily Evans?"

The 'newly appointed head girl' rolled her eyes and leaned against the doorframe, for some reason relieved her family was out frantically shopping for table decorations; her sister Petunia having turned into the definition of Bridezilla. And for another strange reason Lily couldn't put her finger on, she decided to play along with the little charade. "May I ask who sent such flowers?"

"Why, the newly appointed head boy, of course!" said the flowers once more, before they were lowered and the grinning face of James Potter was revealed. He dropped the odd attitude and nodded at her. "Congrats."

Lily smiled, "And to you."

James' shoulders dropped, and he somehow managed to simultaneously ruffle his hair and hand over the bunch. "Yeah, well ... I uh, kind of wanted to talk to you about that."

Lily raised an eyebrow, stepping away from the doorframe and accepting the flowers - bluebells and freesias. "I'll need to put these in a vase," she said, and continued before she could over think it, "would you like to come in?"

James smiled slightly and nodded, and the redhead stepped inside, holding the door open for James' lanky frame to step past her. She tried not to focus too greatly on the fact that James Potter, of all people, was now inside her house and curiously looking around her entrance corridor. After carefully shutting the door, Lily brushed past him and led the short distance to the kitchen, where she busied herself standing on tip toes to reach a vase in the top cupboard. She brought it down precariously, motioned for James to take a seat at a stool by to the kitchen counter, cursed herself inwardly for not cleaning up from breakfast, and proceeded to fill the vase up with water from the sink.

"No Aguamenti?" an amused voice said behind her. Lily flushed slightly, turned off the tap and pulled out her wand.

"Oh yeah, right," she muttered, flicking her wand so that water poured out of it, filling the vase halfway. She bit her lip and looked over her shoulder at James, who was grinning slightly with an eyebrow raised. "I'm always going to be partially muggle," Lily explained, gesturing a little at the sink in front of her. "I still don't do all the regular household things magically."

James nodded, and smiled at her. "You live in a nice house ... it's interesting to see where Miss Evans spends her holidays."

Lily gave a small chuckle and shrugged. "It's nothing much, pretty small actually. But it's home." She dropped the flowers in the vase, and placed it on the counter in front of James before leaning on her elbows in front of him. "So, what's it you want to talk about?"

James' smile faded, and he rubbed his hand through his hair again, making it lose any semblance of tidiness. "It's just ... I can't help but wonder ... did Dumbledore make a mistake?"

Lily's eyebrows shot up, but before she could say anything James hastily continued. "It's not like I'm going to throw it away or anything ... but I'm not exactly the pick for the job, am I? I've broken pretty much every school rule at least twice, I've lost count of the amount of detentions I've had, I've never been responsible ... it just doesn't seem right. Hang on, why are you smiling?"

"I'm not," she said quickly, but the grin on her face only grew. James frowned.

"Okay, maybe I am a little, but you have to admit this is a little funny."

"Funny?" James looked downright offended, so Lily shook her head quickly, leaning off her elbows and placing her hands on the bench top instead.

"That wasn't the right word, but ... I just never thought I'd see the day when James Potter would sit in my kitchen saying he wasn't good enough for something." She smirked a little at him. "It's downright out of character."

The corner of his lips quirked, but James' voice remained serious. "Lily. This, believe it or not, is a big deal to me. The head job should have gone to someone else, like Remus, or a smart, hardworking chap like Stephen Davies in Ravenclaw; he was a good prefect too." He frowned at her thoughtfully. "Not me."

Lily frowned right back at him. "Say that again and I'll get quite angry, and it will be an out of character day for us all."

"Anger on you is _hardly_ out of character, Evans," James replied, characteristic smirk back in place. "Need I remind you of the time in the Transfiguration corridor in fourth year?"

Lily glared. "Not the point."

"And the point is?"

"That Dumbledore was absolutely, perfectly sane when he decided to make you head boy!"

James folded his hands atop the counter and leaned forward. "Explain to me how there was not one drop of Firewhiskey involved."

She rolled her eyes, and leaned forward also. "_Because_, there are plenty of reasons why you are the best option for head boy this year. Maybe even the only option."

"Evans? Was that a compliment? _That_'s out of character."

"Shut up, Potter," she muttered. "Look, how long have you been quidditch captain?

"Since fifth year, why?"

"Exactly! When's the last time someone was captain after only three years on the team? I don't even _like _quidditch and I know that's pretty special."

"It's not really –"

"Who got twelve straight O's on the O. ?"

"That's not –"

"_That_," she said seriously, "was more than anyone in the year. And anyone in the past ten years, if I heard McGonnagall, and you, and Sirius, and the howler you Marauders sent every student at Hogwarts correctly."

"That was actually just Sirius –"

"Who stood by his friend, no matter what, even when he discovered he was a werewolf?"

"I didn't – wait, how do you –"

"Remus told me when we got Prefect so I could cover for him with rounds," Lily said, waving a hand dismissively. "But that's an unnecessary detail. You've also, no matter how annoying and brattish and stuck up and bloody _arrogant_-"

"I get it," James cut in this time, wincing slightly.

"Right, well, no matter your personality, you've always been steadfastly anti Dark Arts, and you've never been afraid to stand up for what's right." Lily paused, meeting his eyes directly. "With everything that's going on at the moment, that's probably the most important quality of all."

James, finally, maintained eye contact with her, and Lily was struck by the little flecks of darker brown and green in the hazel. She blinked, and the moment (was it a moment?) was gone, though she felt slightly confused. James fixed it by giving her a small smile. "Okay, I believe you. I am absolutely perfect for the role; Dumbledore is a genius."

Lily rolled her eyes, fighting the urge to grin. "Oh, you're back to normal, that's good."

James laughed. "In the interests of normality, what do you say to a first Heads meeting at the Leaky Cauldron?"

"James-"

"Oh, don't worry; I don't kiss on the first date."

Lily chuckled. "I was actually going to say yes."

His eyebrows shot an inch above his glasses. "_What_?"

She shrugged. "I need to get out of the house, and I suppose we'll need to hang out a bit, if we're going to be working together. I'll just grab my jacket."

She dashed out of the room, taking the stairs quickly and grabbing a light jacket from the chair by her desk. When she came downstairs again, James was standing by the door, now wearing a huge grin. Lily shook her head. "It's not a date."

His grin widened. "I know," he said simply. "But it's a beginning."

She began to open the door, but his hand on her arm stopped her. "Lily," he said quietly, now serious, his eyes meeting hers. "Thank you, for the convincing."

She smiled and nodded, and then opened the door. James offered her his arm, and she declined, and they walked to the edge of the street together, looked around quickly, and with a quick _pop_, they vanished.


End file.
